JOIN USKarnataka gets over 16 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses
Karnataka has received more than 16 lakh Covid vaccine doses and Covaxin constitutes less than 10% of this quantity, according to Jawaid Akthar, state's Additional Chief Secretary of Health.
“We have got more than 16 lakh vaccine doses at the state warehouses for more than eight lakh health workers registered so far. So this will cover both their doses,” he said.
Akthar was speaking in a webinar on “Covid-19 vaccine rollout: Executing an effective and equitable strategy in Karnataka,” organised by Public Affairs Centre here on Friday.
Though Karnataka’s share in the country’s population is 5%, as much as 8% of healthcare workers registered for vaccination in India are from Karnataka, said Akhtar. “Initially it was 10% to 12%, then subsequently, as other states started registering more, the percentage came down. But even then the percentage of registration will be substantially higher than the population share,” he said.
On Friday till 3 pm, Karnataka vaccinated more than 1.6 lakh of the 10 lakh registered in the country which is 15%-16% of the country’s vaccinated population.
In the second phase of vaccination, the country will vaccinate two crore people comprising police, Home Guards, pourakarmikas, Group ‘D’ workers, and those who worked at migrant camps and Covid Care Centres as they were exposed to the virus because of their professions.
Replying to a question, Akhtar said four medical colleges and two district hospitals were chosen for administering Covaxin because of the size of the institutes.
Post mortem report placed before the AEFI committee found that the 43-year-old Group ‘D’ worker who died in Ballari two days after vaccination had “uncontrolled levels of sugar and high blood pressure”.
“His heart had patches. For 10 years, he had had high sugar levels and hypertension which he had not revealed. He worked till evening on the day of vaccination. Findings before the post mortem were reinforced by the post mortem report. It was also discussed in the Bengaluru AEFI committee. Both committees concluded that death was not due to vaccination,” Akhtar said. However, forensic report is still awaited.